James dodge



J. 00095.. ELECTRIC VAPORIZER FOR GAS ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY I6- 191].

Patented Oct. 14, 1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

, JAMES DODGE, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, ASSIGN'OR OF ONE-THIRD TO M. A. HINES A'N'D ONE-THIRD T0 JAMES A. WOOD, BOTH OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

ELECTRIC VAPORIZER FOB- GAS-ENG-IN ES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 14, 1919.

Application filed July 16, 1917. Serial No. 180,751.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES DODGE; a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Birmingham, in the county of Jefierson and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Vaporizers for Gas- Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an electric heater attachment. for gas engines which is adapted to act on the liquid fuel to deliver it in condition for most efficient service in the gas on es.

he object of my invention is particularly to provide an attachment which will adapt the heavier and less volatile hydro-carbon oils, such as kerosene, to be used in gas engines, the device acting to heat and gasify these heavier oils in such manner that the motor will readily start and will operate reliably under the most adverse conditions of temperature and service.

Obviously my invention is also applicable for use with the lighter oils, such as gasolene, and to facilitate the starting of the motors when cold and to insure their reliable operation during intensely cold weather.

A further object of my invention is to so arrange the heaterin the gas manifold or supply conduit that in multi-cylinder motors the heater for the gas supply of each cylinder will have a recuperative period during which it is not exposed to the flow of the cold gas and thus has an opportunity to increase its temperature before acting on the succeeding charge of gas. This arrangement is of very material importance in making the electric heater practicable for. service with the sources of electrical supply customarily available upon automobiles Where it is of prime importance that these heaters should cause the least possible additional demand for current on the battery or magneto. Preferably the heater is located at or so close to the motor as to derive considerable heat by radiation therefrom.

My invention further contemplates the provision of a novel type of electricalheatmg coil which is interposed in the path of the gaseous fuel at or near its entrance to the motor and which is further protected and made more eflicient in its action by being housed between wire mesh screens which preferably are concavo-convex with their concave faces toward the heating coil.

These screens absorb heat from the motor and from the incandescent coil during its periods of rest and in giving off this heat to the gaseous fuel during the heaters periods of service they function as supplemental heating means which also act to breakup and finely divide the oil particles.

My invention also comprises the novel determinals.

Fig. 3 is a view partly in sideelevation and partly in section on the line 33 of Fig. 2, showing my heater applied directly to the gas inlet port of the cylinder.

Fig. 4 illustrates a modification of the heating coil of the heater.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, I show my invention as an attachment to a four cylinder motor 1 having its cylinders 2, 3, 4 and 5 indicated in dotted lines. The carbureter 6 is supplied with oil by a pipe 7 and it delivers the gaseous fuel to an inlet manifold 8 having branch pipes 9 and 10 which are connected to the walls of the motor and communicate with ports therein leading to the cylinders, the branch 9 supplying the cylinders 2 and 4, and the branch 10 supplying the cylinders 3. and 5. These cylinders, by the ordinary practice, will fire in the order that they are numbered so that the branches 9 and 10 are called upon alternately to deliver the gaseous fuel to the motor. etween the discharge end of each of the manifold branches 9 and 10 and the motor I interpose my heater attachment shown in detail in Figs. 2 and 3 and comprising a metal body 11 having a circular passage therethrough and provlded on its opposite faces with annular flanges 12 and 13.

be, is adapted to fit into the flange 12 and the flange 13 is adapted to be fitted into The end of the manifold branch 9 or 10, as the case may the gas inlet port 14 in the wall of the motor. This port in Fig. 1 serves for the admission of gas for two cylinders, whereas, as indicated in Fig. 3, the port 14 is intended to supply only a single cylinder formed in the motor 15. Both motor constructions are well known and are merely used to illustrate various applications of my heating attachment.

Two electric terminals 16 and 17 are passed radially through the walls of the heater body 11 and are insulated therefrom by insulators 18. The terminals are in the form of screws, having their heads 19 disposed within the heater and adapted to receiy e on their outer threaded ends a binding nut 20. Current is supplied over a circuit 21 from a battery 22 and the circuit wires are connected to the terminals 16 and 17 by the nuts 20. These terminals are connected within the heater by a double spiral heating coil 23, the terminals of which are adapted to be clamped between the heads 19 of the terminal screws 16, 17 and their insulators 18. The coil may .be made of any metal suitable for the purposes contemplated. As seen in Fig. 3, current enters through the terminal 16 and passes around the converging spirals of the heater to the center thereof and then about the diverging spirals to the terminal 17 and thence returns to the battery, the circuit being opened or closed by a switch 24 adapted to be controlled by a key or other suitable means 25 shown attached to the dash-board 26 of an automobile. I prefer the use of the double spiral heating coil as it is the most effective arrangement of the incandescent wiring to exert. the maximum heating influence on the flowing gas. It is simple of construction and its coils are so disposed that it offers a minimum of resistance to the flow of the gas as compared with the extent and arrangement of its heating surface which it' will be noted is contracted to present the maximum amount of incandescent wiringin the center of the conduit through which the gas is flowing. The coils of the heater lie in differing transverse sections of the manifold and thus offer less resistance than would be the case if all lay within-the same plane.

To increase the efficiency of the heater and to protect it from being injured by pressure exerted thereon in either direction, I interpose concavo-convex wire mesh screens 27 and 28 in the gas passage on each side of the heating coil. These screens are formed as concavo-convex wire mesh diaphragms disposed with their convex faces away from the heating coil, the screens 27 being held between the heater body 11 and the wall of the cylinder and the screen 28 being held between the manifold branch 9 or 10 and the heater bod -To make the joints tight, a packing ring 29 is inserted between the manifold on one side and the screen 28 and heater body on the other side and a packing ring 30 is interposed between the heater body on its other side and the motor Wall.

Any suitable. means may be employed for holding the manifold or gas supply conduit to the motor with the heater interposed at the joint, that shown being a common form of inlet and exhaust pipe clamp 31. These clamp arms aredrawn in toward the cylinder by stud bolts and nuts 32. Any other source of electric energy may be used instead of the battery, such as a generator or magneto.

In Fig. 1 I illustrate a modification of the heating coil in which wire is bent to produce an'elongated central helical portion 33 of small diameter disposed substantially at the center of the conduit and at its ends the helical portion joins spiral portions 34 lying substantially in parallel planes. The advantage of this construction is that the central helical portion will heat more rapidly and intensely than the divergent spirals and will thus concentrate the heat at the center of the mass of flowing explosive mixture, while the end spirals serve to insure the heating oil the whole mass of the passing explosive mixture.

In, operation, the circuit is closed to the heaters and they become ahnost instantly incandescent. The passing explosive mixture drawn from the carbureter to the gas engine becomes heated and gasified by the heater and arrives in the engine cylinder in condition to explode with the most efficient result. In multi-cylinder practice the coils have a momentary period of recuperation or rest between the periods of flow of the explosive mixture and thus will be able, with less current consumption, to heat the mixture to the extent required.

Another advantage of locating the heater at on near the junction point between the inlet conduit or manifold and the motor, is that the latter radiates a considerable amount of heat to the screens and coil which impart it to the inflowing explosive mixture. The screen diaphragm 27, in addition to its heating functions, will protect the coil against the deposit thereon of carbon particles which might short circuit it when the engine backfires. The screen 28 on the other hand serves as a strainer to keep out foreign fparticles from the heater coil and also to nely break up the particles of oil in the explosive mixture.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a gaseous fluid passage, of a heater for heating the. fluidcomprising an element of. high electrical resistance consisting of two loosely coiled parallel spiral coils disposed across the passage and extending from its periphery nearly to its center, and a closely coiled helical coil of substantial length and small diameter connecting said spiral coils and disposed axially-on the center of said passage, and a source of electrical energy connected to said spiral coils to pass electrical current through said spiral and helical coils, substantially as described.-

A vaporizer of the class described, comprising a body having an opening forming a passage for the fuel, an electric resistance located Wholly withinthe opening and binding posts carried by the body and connected with the resistance, vsaid resistance comprising a coiled wire having an 15 opening and at its ends terminating in spiral coils lying in parallel planes across the outer ends of said opening, and a source of elec- 20 trical energy connected to theterminals of said spiral coils.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

. JAMES DODGE. Witness: I

NoMIE WELSH. 

